corner view ≈ seen through the eyes of a child

dining room area in auntie's house.
the cherry wood table stood in the middle of the room,
facing the stove (that wasn't there in my time).
the room looked a lot bigger.

the table is empty, bar a fruit bowl. there's one chair of six taken. i'm on it. i am told to sit down and wait. i listen to the silence, thick as cream, but for muffled voices that trail behind the dining room wall. someone hushes impatiently. i turn my head back towards the worn cherry wood tabletop, but i don't know that's what it is. cherry wood. i'm puzzled by the bowl, which is chipped, and also cleared out of fruit. i purse my lips. i sigh intelligibly, and also as if. then i start talking. stricken, i hear my voice rasp. then i gain confidence, and talk some more. the wispering in the next room swells into a friendly banter, then dies down completely. i take pace in my words and sentences. i seem to be interviewing someone. i halt. who am i interviewing?

☻ truth is, whilest i'm tracking back in my mind and pinning down this moment remembered, i can only but have been four. i dunno. can i have been?

"seeing through the eyes of a child", by beth, has proofed to be a powerful trip down memory lane. this is corner view by jane, hosted by francesca.

☻ if you like, come to london with me here. put on the slideshow, hit the music button in another window, and relax. i so appreciate your company...

24 comments
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Age of four you wrote... I have a flash memory of my 3 and something, just a view and a feeling also. It's impressive that we can still feel that, so many years after. I'm wondering what would be my son's first memory.Have a beautiful day and a good 21th of July (with the "drache nationale")

Your love for words and telling stories started there maybe, at that cherrywood table..

I loved to walk with you through London, seeing it through your eyes, the lines, the shadows, the doors, the unexpected beauty of the ordinary, the art and architecture, the rain :( it was a wonderful trip! X

Yeah, your magical words took me back into my own childhood! Sometimes it just needs a picture or smell to bring memories back, no matter how long ago they occured. But I keep wondering if I really remind these early impressions or if I just have been told of them very often in detail...?

Ohhhh, THANK YOU for taking me along for your walking tour of London! Did you give Keats a hug for me? I loved the old cemetery, especially the little stone angel... I love most old cemeteries (there is one just behind my mother's house) - they seem like such friendly places, and I like to think about the stories of the people laid to rest there...I enjoyed my tea and scones, too, thank you very much. And that yellow and blue door, side-by-side. Lovely.

My one regret is that I could not, for the life of me, figure out where or how to turn on the music for the slideshow :(

a wonderful weekend in London! Hot, cold, hot, cold, sun, rain, sun, rain - I really have never minded the changeable weather in the UK. Over here, it's more like: rain, rain, rain and more rain (or the opposite). Your auntie's room is a grand place for a first memory. My eldest boy insist that he can remember something from when he was three - which amazes me because I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday :)!

I haven't taken your tour yet or listened to the music, but I will.I liked how you went back to a memory. I remember bits and pieces of a younger age. You described this well. I liked the photo also---can imagine the table and you as a little girl sitting at it. :>)

i just took your tour of London! Oh my. I was trying to take a mental note of all my favorite shots, but they kept coming. Too many! I love all of the signage that you captured. The French Milliners shop, loved that one.I want to go to London now. Did you happen to visit 221 B Baker St??

thank you for the london-trip, what a great idea. and i am touched by your childhood memories, i love to go back in my brain/memory as far as i can.i remember, guess i was 3, the perspective, lying on the floor of a department store, just to take a look under the tables, while my mother couldn't stop talking and shopping...one shop assistant followed me under a table and she was very angry. ♥♥♥ julia

I have few happy childhood memories - but I have discovered I can be the child I never was. After all, age is just something we've all accepted as a matter of fact, haven't we? Whenever I have the chance, I am a seven YO. So much fun.

(I'll be awaiting your card, for now, I'll go and check out your London post ;-)